


Free

by MsBanditoBurrito



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: One Shot, Pre-Canon, basically just all the siblings leaving as teenagers, but its mainly about vanya, pretty short tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:42:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29989245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsBanditoBurrito/pseuds/MsBanditoBurrito
Summary: The first to leave was Klaus.It was a peculiar thought, to leave the house and live a normal life, or as close to ‘normal’ was possible for someone with the Hargreeves’ upbringing. Vanya had often daydreamed about leaving, but it was just that: a daydream. She was only recently 17, she reminded herself when these dreams edged too close to being goals. But, if Klaus could leave, surely she could too?
Relationships: Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Kudos: 19





	Free

The first to leave was Klaus.

He’d made a habit of disappearing for a few days every now and then, Vanya had noticed, and she’d assumed it was  just  another one of those times. The days crept by, each one the same as the last, and after a fortnight she made up her mind that he had left for good.  It was a peculiar thought, to leave the house and live a normal life, or as close to ‘normal’ was possible for someone with the Hargreeves’ upbringing. Vanya had often daydreamed about leaving, but it was  just  that: a daydream. She was only recently 17, she reminded herself when these dreams edged too close to being goals. But, if Klaus could leave,  surely  she could too?

Of course, Klaus was not the first member of her family to go, at least not in the wider definition of the word. The first had been Five, when they were only children, Vanya often recalled. She hoped he was still out there somewhere, although it seemed unlikely after four years.  It wasn’t impossible, she reminded herself when she felt grief fill her chest; Five had always wanted to time travel.  Perhaps  he had.  Perhaps  he’d show up at the academy one day, as  suddenly  as he’d left. Vanya hoped so.

Then there had been Ben, a mere 10 months earlier.  A lump appeared in her throat as she thought about him, an innocent soul who had no place fighting the criminals her siblings fought. Though she envied them, she never could help but feel as if Ben would have been happier on the side lines with her. She remembered his funeral like it was yesterday: the snow. their father’s eulogy, if you could call it that. Her siblings’ harsh words when she tried to defend them.  In the weeks following, she had ached to have been a part of the academy more than ever, if only to have been there, to have been able to save him.  She glanced out her window, gazing down at Ben’s sullen-faced statue in the courtyard below, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

The house was quiet without Klaus.  The siblings spent even their free time in silence, only broken by Vanya’s music, her brothers’ fighting and Allison’s complaining.  Vanya resented that her sister acted so above it all, when she had been right there with them against her and often Klaus only weeks prior.  Breakfast times were silent, having  previously  been the only meal where their father did not join them, and as such the only meal during which talking  was permitted. Now though, all was quiet, except for the scraping of cutlery and Mom’s tending.  She was still the same as she had been when the siblings were kids; Vanya wasn’t sure whether it was comforting or disconcerting.

The next to leave was Diego. He didn’t disappear in the night like Klaus;  on the contrary.  He told his siblings at breakfast one day his plan to join the police academy, and how he’d found a job close to the city police academy. He stressed how this meant he was “finally getting out of this shithole”, as he put it. Despite how he’d treated her, Vanya couldn’t help but dread his departure. She wasn’t sure if she’d miss him or if it was fear of  being left  with only Luther and Allison. Still, when the day came, she couldn’t bring herself to hug him.  It was odd; they’d been almost close in the years following Five’s disappearance, but Ben’s death had caused Diego to become colder and more contrary. Klaus leaving had solidified that, as while he didn’t like to show it, Vanya knew Diego was fond of Klaus and his antics.

In the weeks following Diego moving out, Vanya began to linger on her daydreams a little more. She’d often hoped to become a professional violinist, although she knew it was far from likely. She had once snuck out, when she was 15, to go to a local music school audition.  Despite Mom and even her siblings telling her she was good, the auditioner had looked far from impressed.  It had taken her months to feel confident in her playing once again, and even now she often felt less than happy with how it sounded.  Still, she researched music schools in the city, promising herself that she would audition for them one day.

Vanya had always known that Luther and Allison had been the closest of her siblings, and she’d had suspicions there was something more between them, so it came as quite a shock when Allison announced she was moving out.  Apparently  , she had booked a role in a Hollywood movie. Vanya knew what this meant: her sister was rumouring her way into fame,  just  as she had with everything in life.  She  not-so-fondly  recalled the time when, as children, Allison had rumoured her into staying outside all day in the dead of winter, as a twisted retribution for Vanya borrowing one of her scarves without her permission.

She wasn’t sad to see Allison leave; while she was her only sister, she had always been the cruellest of her siblings.  She was almost happy that the only other of the children left in the house was Luther; while he had always been a stickler for dad’s rules, he had never been too unkind to her. In fact, he had almost respected her, in the same semi-condescending way as their father. After waving off Allison’s cab to the airport, Luther spent the  remainder  of the day moping around the house. Vanya felt almost bad for him; as much as she was stuck with him, she knew he was stuck with her.

Over the following weeks, Vanya kept an eye on Luther. While they rarely spoke, she tried to keep him in high spirits. When he seemed more down than usual, she would often play his favourite old songs on her violin to cheer him up. She hoped he appreciated it, not that he would ever say so, nor would she mention it.

Vanya took to spending much of her time with Mom, often helping her cook.  In fact, it was Mom who sparked the idea; Vanya had been helping her cook breakfast one morning, when she asked if Vanya planned to go to a music school. She hadn’t thought about it in months but remembered the promise she made herself. “Yes.” She told Mom, with a determination she rarely had.  That day, she applied to as many auditions at nearby schools as she could, as well as compiling the sheet music for all her best pieces. Over the next few weeks, between auditions and practicing, she prepared.  She found an apartment across the city; it was small, but she  was used  to that – after all, her room in the mansion had been the smallest by far. She applied for jobs near her apartment and found one at a cosy little café a block away.  After two months of auditions, job and apartment hunting, she got an acceptance letter to the school nearest her apartment. Lucky, she thought. With everything in place, it was time.

Luther was out on a mission. She left a box of tapes in his room; recordings of her playing his favourite songs. She gave Mom a folder of all her childhood art, and a hug goodbye. And she left.

As the cab pulled out of the driveway and towards her new apartment, Vanya took one last look at her childhood home and thought of Luther, out on his mission. Of Diego, training at the police academy. Of Allison, rumouring her way through LA. Of Klaus, up to his usual hijinks. Of Five, wherever he may be. Of Ben, who never got this chance. And for the first time, she felt free.

**Author's Note:**

> literally this thing came from me lying on my bed thinking about what order the hargreeves left and then this happened  
> i wrote this whole motherfucker in two hours send help


End file.
